Thank you Lake Crew.
It is hard to remember a time when I was not a Christian. I grew up in a Methodist church and dedicated my life in the third grade at Brookhill Ranch Summer Camp. However it was not until I went to be a counselor at Camp Ozark on lake crew that I truly began to stretch and grow my faith. For the past four summers I have worked in Mt. Ida, Arkansas teaching kids to wakeboard, wakesurf, ski, and much more.
Being offered a spot on Lake Crew I had no idea what to expect, besides the obvious, that I would be driving boats. I had no idea that I would make such incredible relationships with like-minded people who have hearts that continually desire to deepen their relationships with Christ, but at the same time like to break rules and goof off nonstop. This blog is a thank you to my lake crew family that have allowed me to become the person that God has called to travel the world and spread his name.
Having worked at camp over four different summers I have served with four completely different crews, but they all still share the commonality that I pointed out above. Additionally despite being different each crew has taught me the same three things: to always be intentional with everything and everyone, confidence in yourself can be the difference in a job done and a job well done, and if your going to do something stupid don’t get caught.
To be intentional requires more than just doing. It is very easy to be nice to others and simply go through life doing the tasks assigned to you. It is a lot harder to want to get to know someone, to desire and grow a relationship, or to find enjoyment in your work and do it earnestly. Lake crew taught me this lesson time and time again, as we would form close bonds over a short period of working together. Despite the short interval we had together we seemed to know each other almost as much as we knew our own families. I have carried this lesson with me and applied it to school, internships, and other relationships and it has done nothing but help me excel in those things.
This is not to say that my parents did not teach me the value of hard work, because they have many times over. Rather I learned to also be intentional in addition to the hard work. This carried over to my relationship with God as well. It is easy to set aside time to spend with God, but I sometimes found that I was treating it like a chore rather than something that I should want to do. Our God is an intentional God, meaning that he genuinely cares for and gives his full attention to everything and everyone in creation. So why should I not be more intentional in my relationship with Him?
Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” It just takes one look up at the stars while camping on Lake Ouachita to understand God’s intentionality and to change how I treated my relationship with Christ.
My first year on lake crew I was definitely thrown for a curve, I knew how to drive boats, teach wakeboarding, and back up a trailer. Even though I knew how to do all these things I had never done them with someone else’s equipment or to the extent in which we would be doing them. It took me a little over two weeks into the job before I realized that confidence went a long way in being good at something. To do something while being timid and second guessing everything is to do it at a much slower pace and with more exhausting effort.
This is not to be confused with taking your time and making sure that the job you do is done right the first time, or that you can’t question a few things along the way to ensure the work is done successfully. I am speaking to having confidence in yourself and not being afraid to step up and get the job done. Whether parking boats, carrying trunks, or meeting new people being on lake crew has helped me find the confidence in myself that has allowed me to get the job done well in many other areas of my life.
Finally if you’re going to do something stupid, don’t get caught. If there is one thing I can undoubtedly say about lake crew, it is that we know how to have fun. I think as young Christians in our society it can be hard to fit in sometimes. Seeing all the things that go on around us and that we ourselves sometimes get caught up in it is easy to see why Christians have such a hard time staying on track. Lake crew taught me how to break the rules and have fun in a way that is, for lack of a better word, wholesome.
1 Corinthians 8:9, “But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” It is possible to break the rules, have fun, laugh a lot and not become a stumbling block for yourself or those around you. As we have become aware of one another through forming intentional relationships we have grown to know where one another stumble and how to best hold each other up. So while we can goof off and have fun we also knew where the line is and how to avoid crossing it. The “don’t get caught” part is pretty simple.. breaking the rules is a lot more fun when you do not get in trouble afterward.
To wrap things up, God knew exactly what he was doing when he had Jeff Rhodes hire me to work on lake crew. The people I have met along the way have led me down a path infinitely different from the one I had originally intended. They have done so by helping me grow as a person and by helping me grow as a man of God. I am a more intentional, confidant, and adventurous person thanks to lake crew.
Lake Crew 2014
Lake Crew 2015
Lake Crew 2016
Lake Crew 2017
